My analytical mind watches the droids as they come down the main street. The street is two lanes, easy enough for two squads to walk abreast en route to their next building. The squad leader on the left, a predecessor of the last droid I killed, had a slightly modified running pattern. Its stride was an inch shorter on the right leg than its left. I recall all of two pot shots I made while running through the ambush, actually it was more like a finger spasm, but I seemed to have hit the droid in the lower leg. I smile to myself, even though the droid team has picked up its pace. I only have twenty minutes left and soon I will be within their auditory sensor’s radius. The static on my earpiece goes off a beat before Denjie comes in. “Parker, we're almost to the checkpoint. How are things looking?”

I reposition my sights north of my impending doom and towards the tree line. “Be advised, you will come out on the main road, eta two minutes. No immediate threat…Wait.”

I see a quick movement followed by a shimmer of metal and I instinctively duck back, making sure no part of my body is visible. I can tell Denjie just stopped running and is holding his breath. I wait a beat and take a chance to reevaluate the threat. I inch forward slowly and look through my binoculars at the area of interest. It seems that a door was slammed open by an overzealous droid pair. The wheels in my mind start turning as I wonder why there are only two droids. Then the droid pair crouches and turns at an angle towards the main road. A chill goes up my spine as I realize that we are fighting a trained tactician. Whoever is pulling the strings of the droids knows what he is doing.

I confirm what I am looking at and break radio silence. “New development. A droid pair is occupying a rooftop one block West and two blocks South of your current path. Droid assassin, droid turret, vantage towards your path. I repeat. There is a droid assassin— E-5s sniper rifle—and its cover. . . Correction. Two teams. Another droid assassin and turret droid arrived on scene. Target two is three blocks east and one blocks south. I recommend new path to avoid pending ambush.”

I hear Cabra exhale sharply, mutter “Fierfek,” and tell me exactly what I can do with my pending ambush. Frankly, I’m surprised that an ARC would know some of those words. Generally they are only known around Coruscant cantinas. It would be Denjie that replies first. It always scares me when he becomes cold and efficient, but then again I suppose that is how he got squad lead. Calm and collected, I can tell he is suggesting and eliminating dozens of options in his head as he speaks, “Cabra and I will discuss whether to counter-ambush or just avoid. Recommend path?”

I answered immediately, “It doesn’t matter, just don’t-” the second the static consumes my ear piece I reach for the detonator. By the time the door gets kicked open, I am pressing down on the button. My muscles will never get used to the explosion, so I flinch. However, no effect was caused. I drop the detonator and spin around, reaching for my sidearm. As the detonator falls to the ground, I hear a gravelly voice speak in a low, scratchy baritone. The voice feels like it scratches me from the inner ear to my brain but I get the most disturbing feeling that I have heard it before. “Did you really think no one could disarm a simple door charge?”

When my hand unholsters the blaster and instinctively wraps around the handle I hear a calm and collected voice say, “Uh uh uh… I wouldn’t do that if I were you.” My eyes saw him but they finally focused on him. He was my height and build, looked confident, was unarmed, and wearing a thick cloak. My mind tells my hand, which already has the gun out of the holster, to stop but it doesn’t actually work. I have too much training of muscle memory in quick draws to listen to my flawed brain. The shadowed figure slowly reaches up and reaches into the hood, doing what I can only assume is a light touch of his ear. The red flag goes off and my entire body goes rigid in a heartbeat. The person flicks off the hood of his cloak, but I have already figured it out and is preoccupied with scanning the skyline. I see what I already feared would be true, a sniper and his spotter on a high-rise to my right. The voice sneers, “Remember me?”

Of course I remember Tiger, the second in charge and demo man from Foxtrot squad. I was the one who rippedhis squad leader from him two months ago. I look up and see the other two members of his squad. I know that the man holding the sniper, who I know as Eagle, is one of the best I have ever known—almost as good as the legendary Sev from Delta Squad. I know that his trademark is calling out the body part he is going to hit before he shoots. I once heard that he shot a moving Trandoshan from a thousand yards, aiming for the right eye, and when he later discovered that only half the bolt went through that eye he complained. My mouth goes dry, my heart starts beating at a quick rate, ringing in my ear, and sweat forms along my back and on my brow. At least I can take comfort in knowing that Alpha team would be able to complete their counter-ambush while I deal with this.

Off topic- Sorry to take so long guys. I hope it was worth the wait Also, sorry about the weird formatting. I wrote this in Microsoft Word and just copy/pasted it. I'm just too lazy to fix it. Sorry

ECHOESHUNTER8 5/14/09 wrote:Denjie, your Squad Leader because I can't be active enough to do so, and also, your the oldest member here (as in experiance). So please don't give me a reason to question your work here please.

ECHOESHUNTER8 5/14/09 wrote:Denjie, your Squad Leader because I can't be active enough to do so, and also, your the oldest member here (as in experiance). So please don't give me a reason to question your work here please.

The change in scenery was a welcome sight for Ay and his squad. The uncharted, dense, and seemingly endless forest provided little aid in following the clone soldiers. Now however, in the populated, Seperatist controlled city, it was an easy thing to trail anyone. For Cee too, there were no more sticks for him to step on, thankfully. Despite his ruckus, luck was on their side as the clones had failed to notice them. And now that they were in the city, there was literally no chance whatsoever of anyone noticing their presence. The people were always far too busy to notice a group of their new government's agents, even if they weren't loyal to the Confederacy. This allowed them to blend in perfectly, becoming one with the mass that traversed the streets. However, it was a different story for the more poor of the districts. There were less people walking about, and people like them would be easily noticed. That's why, when they had the opportunity, they went around the two clones. Now they were perched high above in one of the larger buildings of the city, having a view of the clones location.

"Don't know what Bell is thinking." muttered Bee from his crouched position. He was looking through a pair of binoculars at the three. After taking position within the building, they had quickly spotted the third "missing" clone, thus confirming Ay's theory. "With the droids this close to HQ, it's no wonder they were able to find it so easily."

"That was his plan." responded the Captain, causing everyone to look at him with various expressions, ranging from shock, to curiosity, and for Ee his expression was just plain out unreadable. "Bell isn't the type of person to wait. He wants to lure the clones into the base, mainly so he can have some fun."

"Fun? He wants to take them out personally?" asked Fee, her arms crossed and brows furrowed into a frown, indicating annoyance. Not a surprise to anyone, she was easily annoyed.

Ay nodded his head, looking back out the window. He scowled at what his sharp eyes saw. "Ee, get a visual on the third clone."

Ee took out his customized sniper. It truly was his own design. The main body was designed to hold both high velocity ammo and low velocity, with a switch on the side with which to decide which. This way, he was just as useful as a sniper as he was a soldier. The scope had three magnifications, and the aim was a orange skull in the middle of the scope's end. The barrel was folded back when he put it in it's holster, but now it was out about 4 feet out. The end had a silencer added. The whole thing was pitch black in color, designed for night assassinations. If one observed closely, they could also see hundreds of miniature marks all over it. They were the count of his kills. All of them were head-shots. After looking through the scope, his eyes widened in surprise before he scowled (just like his brother. They were twins, after all.)

"What... Oh, I see." Bee said, as he looked at the building.

Fee and Cee had a confused look on both of their faces. They didn't have anything to see their enemies with, so they were just watching. "Watchya' seein'?" came the clumsy sounding voice of Cee.

"You missed the sniper." came Ay's calm, collected voice. This wasn't exactly part of the plan, but since when do plans go 100% right anymore?

"Sniper? Oh, I see..." said Bee, readjusting his view on the new persons. "Ee, prepare to-"

"No. Let's see what happens." Ay said with a smirk. "It should be interesting."

"Are you sure? Orders were-"

"Orders were to watch, but do not engage." Ay responded coldly. "We follow orders to the letter. The secondary is always optional."

Bee looked at him briefly with disbelief, but then shook his head. "Roger."

"You really don't need to be so mean, y'know." said Dee. He was always the complainer, but he knew how to do his job. Ay didn't bother responding. The blond haired man was right, he didn't need to be mean. But it was his nature, as it was with his father. But that's a story for a different time. For now, the group simply stood and watched from their position, within the top floor of the tall building. If you looked closely, you could see Ay's eyes had turned from dark brown to light yellow, a sign that the cybernetics were working. He would be watching very carefully, and he would soon find out if this new situation would provide any amusement at all.

ECHOESHUNTER8 5/14/09 wrote:Denjie, your Squad Leader because I can't be active enough to do so, and also, your the oldest member here (as in experiance). So please don't give me a reason to question your work here please.

Ok, I really don't want this going dead again... Dev, it's your turn. Take it and then I'll go.

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ECHOESHUNTER8 5/14/09 wrote:Denjie, your Squad Leader because I can't be active enough to do so, and also, your the oldest member here (as in experiance). So please don't give me a reason to question your work here please.

As Denjie and I come up on the fringes of the ruined city, the two of us stack up against the side of a destroyed building. Clicking the safety off my rifle, Denjie pokes his head around the corner. "What's it like in there?" I ask, glancing around us before turning back to him. "Nothing yet, just a couple droid patrols." He looks back at me, even though I can't see his face through the T-visor of his commando helmet. Nodding, I slap his shoulder plate. "Let's go."

Ok, ok, ok! I'm here and partially alive... I'll get around to it probably tomorrow.

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ECHOESHUNTER8 5/14/09 wrote:Denjie, your Squad Leader because I can't be active enough to do so, and also, your the oldest member here (as in experiance). So please don't give me a reason to question your work here please.

*With my eyes trained forward I nod knowing he saw it. I slipped around the corner in a half crouch stance, keep my rifle in a ready position. I turned the short range radar active on my HUD*

Small patrol of droids coming in from the west. Two Officers with them. Another one coming in from the north. *I com Parker but only get static* Parker! Do you read? *Silence* Parker! Come in! *more silence, not a sound. I switch to the channel between cabra and myself* I'm getting no contact from Parker, channel is all static. Jammed. Somethings happened to him. *I made my way slowly to a pile of crates and motioned for cabra to move. I kept my gun trained around us, ready for any sudden moves*

*Flashback*

"It's all clear, what are you waiting for?" Parker asked. I just looked at him. "Sometimes I wonder how the hell you stayed alive this long". "I have my team, they're my support". I looked back at his "team" that was pinned down. "Like they're going to help you right now? They might as well be dead!". "They wont die! They're my men! *Parker stood up to run to them, I grabbed his arm and hauled him back right as a couple of canons went off destroying the spot where his team had been. Parker froze and just look, then looked at me* "What the hell was that for!? I could have saved them!". I could hear the anger in his voice. "Get over it!" I said harshly. "They dead anyway, now let's get out of here and get to the RV in one piece! That's all that mattes now!". *He reluctantly got up and fallowed me* "You still haven't changed Denjie, you're still cold inside".*I turned to him* "And it's what's kept me alive!".

*End Flashback*

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ECHOESHUNTER8 5/14/09 wrote:Denjie, your Squad Leader because I can't be active enough to do so, and also, your the oldest member here (as in experiance). So please don't give me a reason to question your work here please.